Customer Reviews

101 Secrets for a Great Retirement : Practical, Inspirational, & Fun Ideas for the Best Years of Your Life!

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There is a great deal of wisdom in this book by Mary Helen and Shuford Smith. The Smiths cover the practical aspects of retirement as well. The Smiths retired early - ages 39 and 43. They consider their retirement lives extremely rich and provide this guide to fill in a gap that they see in retirement literature. They aren't afraid to tackle issues that many other retirement books don't address, such as the reality of death and sexual changes, while covering the practical aspects of retirement as well.

The construct of the book is in the form of 101 brief essays grouped together in eight categories. The first category, "Make Successful Transitions," is one of the critical sections that make this book stand out. The Smiths discuss the importance of developing a philosophy for life during your retirement years. Many recent retirement books talk about finding jobs, volunteering, travel and relationships, but few acknowledge that we must come to grips with the realities of aging and defining our purpose on earth - our reason for "being," rather than "doing." The Smiths replay this theme throughout the remainder of the book.
If I have one gripe with the book, it's the style of writing. The Smiths have chosen to write in the first person plural ("we," "our"). This can begin to grate if the reader chooses to read from cover to cover, because it begins to sound like a royal "we." Because of this, I recommend reading the book in short bursts, dipping into different essays as appropriate.

In spite of this shortcoming, 101 Secrets for a Great Retirement belongs on the bookshelf of everyone approaching retirement.

I bought this book thinking that the "secrets" therein would enlighten me as to things we might be missing in our planning for retirement. The other reviewers on this site made it sound like the book would have advice on little-known health care deals, finding a good place to live, etc. Instead, it is filled with common sense tips, such as "enjoy sex" and "learn to forgive." Gee, thanks. This might be a good book if you're retired and bored, but don't buy this looking for much more.

This is a much more practical book than some of the "100 things you can do when retired" books that suggest babysitting, dogwalking or other simplistic ideas. Mary Helen Smith lists 101 things you should think about or do, like consider what is "quality of life"--for example, downsizing your house versus staying in an expensive piece of real estate, and listing government programs for retirees, something you may not know about. In addition, she stresses understanding about money.

Once you are on a fixed income, and one that is possibly lower than your salary, you must deal with money in a different manner. Now is the time to learn about finances and money, not after you've gotten your first social security check. With many millions of people hitting retirement or near-retirement age from the Baby Boom, this is a really good starting-off point to plan out your coming retirement years. Highly recommended. There are ideas here, but this is just the jumping-off point.

This book has become the basis for an 8 session course I teach for the "nearly, newly, and nicely retired". In this course, we take one chapter a week. The book becomes the platform for exploring the entire range of topics associated with the journey of approaching, reaching, and growing throughout retirement.

Unlike so many other books on retirement, 101 Secrets for a Great Retirement focuses on living a joyful, enriching retirement... not simply preparing your financial portfolio for retirement! This book doesn't ignore the key financial parameters of living in retirement but fully recognizes that money is only one aspect of having a great retirement. And, perhaps, even illustrates to us that money doesn't even comprise the most important aspect of having a great retirement.

I would encourage you to treat this book as a way to engage yourself with thinking about how your life can be made richer in life's experiences and growing in life's enjoyment. Use it to discuss retirement with your mate, or friends, or simply to motivate yourself to understand that the lessons from this book can largely be applied to your own life at any point in time. The biggest secret about this book from my perspective is that the book isn't so much about how to have a great retirement but about to have a great life no matter your age!

Are their better books out there about retirement? Perhaps, on a given topic some other book has greater depth or academic insight. But after reviewing many of them over the 7 years I've been retired, this book remains my personal favorite.

I'm impressed by how much information is packed into the conversational style of this book. An abundance of practical information is available without it feeling tedious. Your approach is positive, encouraging, and realistic. Maslow and intuition are acknowledged. Caring ways to honor yourself and others are gently and directly suggested. Thank you for writing a helpful book that will positively affect the lives of those who read it.

IF YOU HAVE ZERO IDEAS FOR WHAT, HOW,AND WHEN, ITS ALRIGHT.IF YOU HAVE ALREADY DONE SOME HOMEWORK FOR A WHILE SKIP IT.